As Shuttle Lifts Off, NASA Will Man Destruct Switch—Just in Case

If the looming Discovery mission or any other between now and the spacecraft's retirement loses control, NASA is prepared to ditch it in the Atlantic—or blow it up. (Scroll down for complete no-fly-zone maps)

Each time the space shuttle rises from its launchpad at Cape Canaveral, Fla., an Air Force officer waits anxiously for the first 2 minutes to pass safely. If the spaceship were to veer off course and endanger a populated area, this range safety officer would bear the terrible responsibility of flipping a pair of switches under a stenciled panel reading "Flight Termination." The first switch arms explosives on the shuttle's two solid rocket boosters. Flipping the second switch would detonate them, destroying the shuttle and crew.

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"If something happens when it's just off the pad, there's only a couple of seconds [to react]," says Bryan O'Connor, a former shuttle commander and NASA's chief of safety and mission assurance.

But the danger continues as the craft streaks upward. If a spaceship's flight controls or engines malfunction, toxic fuel and fast-moving debris could threaten people below. After about 2 minutes, the spent solid rocket boosters drop away, taking the charges with them. After that, problems severe enough to threaten people on the ground would leave the crew with two options: Enter orbit and fly around the Earth for a landing at California's Edwards Air Force Base, or steer into the ocean. Ditching at sea would be extremely dangerous--astronauts would need to exit the ship at 20,000 ft., without the benefit of ejection seats. "After Challenger, we installed parachutes, survival suits and individual rafts, as well as an extendable pole used to clear the escapees from the wing when they exit the hatch [while in flight]," O'Connor says.

NASA's next space vehicles will include a rocket-powered escape pod for launch emergencies.